


Death

by NervousAliceCurious



Series: ETNuary [31]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: ETNuary, Free day, Gen, Misadventures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22503325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: From start to finish, they were there. Still are. Because there's only one spirit left to find now, with a particularly vicious grudge.
Series: ETNuary [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588006
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	1. The Beginning Of The Night

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Free Day!!
> 
> Cw: Implied gore, betrayal, death.

Three years later and the bodies finally drop.

-Not all at once.

It’s never that easy in ‘Escape the Night’ land.

No, we have Ms. Colleen Ballinger’s spirit lingering somewhere in 1978.

How she wound up in such an odd place I don’t know.

…Every time I think I’ve seen it all.

The Iron Maiden.

Reviving old medieval punishments.

This could get graphic quite fast…

I pry open the doors slightly.

Dried-blood.

A scent that hasn’t changed one bit over time.

I pry them open further, and an arm rips loose.

Flops through the gap.

It is not a pretty sight.

I pull the doors open all the way-

She falls on me.

I feel the spatter, but it could be worse.

My arms close around her.

Coughing, directly in my ear.

Her hands tremor, lock onto my shoulders.

I bite my tongue as the pressure increases.

She’s scared enough as is.

“Wh…”

“…”

“Wh…ere…”

She blinks destroyed eyelids.

“You’re safe now”, I promise her.

“S…afe?”

“Yes”.

Best not to rush.

“N…safe?”

She shudders.

“I’m…”

I’m **shoved.**

I don’t even have time to think-

-

My skull aches.

Light flashes in my eyes.

What-did she just-!?

In her hands is my scythe-

“-Sorry”.

She walks out!??

H-wait a minute-

_Wait a minute!!_

Argh…

Move too fast and I’ll regret it.

-

Only when I’m absolutely certain I _won’t_ pass out do I try to inch anywhere.

Of course, I have no idea how much time has gone by…

-?

Not now…

The flash back forward of a woman in a glass tube.

Andrea Brooks, A House Locked In The 1920’s-

…Where did she take it?

It sits in the road, in front of a dying portal.

…Great.

I have a runner.

My head spins as I keep going down the chain…

I only have premonitions of those who’ve died, not those who’ve dodged.

Every other second, someone else appears and I can’t let them slide too.

~~That table corner’s making it very difficult to keep up.~~

Can’t afford _not_ to.

If I’m talking in circles, I probably have a concussion.

But I don’t recall the symptoms right this second.

~~…Really should let Life know…~~

I bet they’re just as busy.

“-I’m talking about you trying to take on too much”.

“What?”

What is that supposed to mean!?

“Dude, you’re acting like Matt H.”.

How-

“Who else is going to take it on!?” I shout.

“I’m the only Death there is”.

“Death, huh?”

It’s just a tiny poke.

I’m on the lawn in ten seconds flat.

“Yeah, you’re really gonna be able to do this on your own”.

I could **_sputter-_**

“How would you even help?”

“‘Assistant Tim’ sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?”

'Assistant Tim'?

"......You have no idea how this works".

"I _can_ learn...from you..."

I am.

Exasperated.

"......Are you going to give up?"

"C'mon, Boss. I want to redeem myself".

I give him a skeptical look.

"Pretty please?"


	2. Sudden, Stranger, Odder Relations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Tim join forces with Death? Or will Death decide they're better alone after all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Death in general, poisonous gas, strangling aftermath. Everything a carrion bird implies. Discussion of murder, i.e. being buried alive. Wallet theft.

Why.

Should I let him come along.

-There are a thousand things wrong with it.

Not in the least me being outmuscled again.

(Which already happened-)

“. . . . .”

I stare at his hopeful face.

“-What?”

“Pretty please, can I come along with you and be your Assistant-“

Argh.

“I don’t-“

I’m barely pulling myself back up-

“Fine”.

“Yes!!”

“Don’t get too excited”.

Great.

Just great-

“Okay”.

-But his serious look, isn’t very serious.

It’s like watching someone try to hold in that they won the Jackpot…with no Poker Face.

“…Tim”.

I sigh…

“You’re not very convincing”.

“Oh come on-I _practiced_ this-!!”

“I think you lost all your money”.

“Owch-!”

“-And when we find Shane, you need to give him back his Wallet”.

“……You have no proof I stole it-“

I raise my eyebrows.

“…..It says ‘Shane Dawson’, on the outside, written in gold, shimmery in-“

“No it doesn’t”.

-I catch him trying to surreptitiously sneak a peek into his pocket out of the corner of my eye.

Geez….

I slit a hole in the Very Fabric of Existence, and feel the flash-

1970’s.

Lady in red.

Face burned green, neck bruised blue.

“You coming?”

“Yes-“

He’s the very picture of ‘I-didn’t-do-anything-suspicious’.

“…Stay directly behind me”.

“Aye, aye”.

“Don’t do anything stupid-“

“Aye, aye”.

“Stop saying ‘aye, aye’”.

“Ay-mean yeah. Uh-huh. Totally”.

He coughs.

………How many Souls are left to find again?

-

We enter back into the Town that was once trapped in time.

“Woah!!”

He spins around as he walks, a kid in a candy store.

“-I should get me some of these lights…”

I tune out the rest of his impressed chatter, and lead the way forward.

The portal to here dissolving on its own…

There.

A dim, misty-green forest.

You can barely _see_ the sign, forget about reading it.

“That looks like poisonous gas-“

“It _is_ poisonous gas”.

“What”.

“It won’t disperse until the one who died there is retrieved from......”

I scan the murk.

“......A second pair of eyes would be helpful”.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah....Assistant”.

-He seems to light up with happiness.

...

It's not...unpleasant.

“Wait-if we breathe it in ourselves, will _we_ die?”

“No-you’re already dead. And I am...unapplicable”.

“-That is, correct. _Very,_ correct-“

“Just signal if you find any body-shaped....shapes, okay?”

“-We have an Official Signal?”

......

“Because I was thinking, maybe we could do a Vulture noise-“  
“A Vulture?”

“You know, they fly over and-“

“....No”.

“We could make skulls with our fingers-“

“....If you could do that, I would be amazed”.

He goes quiet.

I keep looking...

Ten minutes later, something pokes my shoulder.

“Ow-!”

“Ooh, sorry-“

“What is it-“

I-how did he do that-!?

“A skull!?”

“Pretty cool, right?”

“-I guess...it’s pretty cool”.

I have to accept that much.

“Did you see any-“

“Body-shaped shapes?”

-I _really_ said that.

“Y....es....”

“No-but there’s a red blur between those two trees who’re kissing-“

He points.

“-!”

I immediately lock on.

“Follow me”.

“-? Did I get it!?”

-

He got it alright.

I struggle to lift the prone form from the ground.

“Need help?”

I want to say otherwise-

My knees wobble.

“.....Some”.

“Cool”.

Tim swoops in to steady her.

She’s awake, her irises as wide as a deer’s.

“-Who’s there!?”

“Death and their amazing sidekick:

Timothy ‘Mob Boss’ Delaghetto!”

“That’s a cartoon villain”, I remark, not really paying attention because _what did he just-_

“What? Man, no, that’s an iconic, diabolical-“

“Tim-“

Teala’s voice enters whatever weird routine we have going on-

“Tim, as in, the vanished YouTuber-?”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance“.

“And you-“

“Are here for your soul.

Yes”.

“What took you so long!?”

-That is _not_ the response I am accustomed to getting...

“Oop-“

“I-ran into complications-“

“How can Death run into complications!?”

“Long-story-“

“We’ll tell you later, we promise-“

-Another one.

“Tim”.

“What-“

“Coffin”.

“Aw, man-!”

“What!?”

“No time, we’ll have to take her with us”.

“What!!?”

“Can’t I just, like…hide out in the Underworld…”

“No”.

“What are you two talking about!?”

She twists her head around, in confusion-

“Who’s in a coffin!!?”

-That is the exhalation of a culprit caught.

“Justine…”

“.........You’re going to get in trouble for this”.

“I know-!!”

He groans-

“Uh…why is Justine in a coffin!?”

“Because I put her there”.

“-You did WHAT-“

“I thought she was a traitor, okay!??”

“NO, it isn’t okay!!!!”

.......

-Are _all_ partnerships supposed to be chaotic?

(I knew this would be a bad idea-)

But...

I’ve never had an Official Signal...ever.

Annoyingly enough . . .

I don’t... _dislike_ his company-

-I make a new slit while I try to flush away those thoughts.

No time.

As I said.

...

Yeah, that’s it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 777 Words. It could be worse.
> 
> Also, a bunch of stuff got taped off the TV yesterday, so movie night might be for five more nights including this one, maybe.  
> Which means I will probably be late.

**Author's Note:**

> 521 Vs. 489 Words.


End file.
